Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

ten minutes
?” 
He looked down at his watch. Dobby was right. It was twenty 
past nine. A large, dead weight seemed to fall through Harry’s chest 
into his stomach. 
“Hurry, Harry Potter!” squeaked Dobby, plucking at Harry’s 
sleeve. “You is supposed to be down by the lake with the other 
champions, sir!” 
“It’s too late, Dobby,” Harry said hopelessly. “I’m not doing the 
task, I don’t know how —” 
“Harry Potter 
will
do the task!” squeaked the elf. “Dobby knew 
Harry had not found the right book, so Dobby did it for him!” 
“What?” said Harry. “But 
you
don’t know what the second task 
is —” 
“Dobby knows, sir! Harry Potter has to go into the lake and find 
his Wheezy —” 
“Find my what?” 
“— and take his Wheezy back from the merpeople!” 
“What’s a Wheezy?” 
“Your Wheezy, sir, your Wheezy — Wheezy who is giving 
Dobby his sweater!” 

---

THE SECOND TASK 
‘
491 
‘
Dobby plucked at the shrunken maroon sweater he was now 
wearing over his shorts. 
“
What
?” Harry gasped. “They’ve got . . . they’ve got 
Ron
?” 
“The thing Harry Potter will miss most, sir!” squeaked Dobby. 
“ ‘
But past an hour
—’ ” 
“— ‘
the prospect’s black,
’ ” Harry recited, staring, horror-struck, at 
the elf. “ ‘
Too late, it’s gone, it won’t come back
.’ Dobby — what’ve I 
got to do?” 
“You has to eat this, sir!” squeaked the elf, and he put his hand 
in the pocket of his shorts and drew out a ball of what looked like 
slimy, grayish-green rat tails. “Right before you go into the lake, 
sir — gillyweed!” 
“What’s it do?” said Harry, staring at the gillyweed. 
“It will make Harry Potter breathe underwater, sir!” 
“Dobby,” said Harry frantically, “listen — are you sure about 
this?” 
He couldn’t quite forget that the last time Dobby had tried to 
“help” him, he had ended up with no bones in his right arm. 
“Dobby is quite sure, sir!” said the elf earnestly. “Dobby hears 
things, sir, he is a house-elf, he goes all over the castle as he lights 
the fires and mops the floors. Dobby heard Professor McGonagall 
and Professor Moody in the staffroom, talking about the next 
task. . . . Dobby cannot let Harry Potter lose his Wheezy!” 
Harry’s doubts vanished. Jumping to his feet he pulled off the 
Invisibility Cloak, stuffed it into his bag, grabbed the gillyweed, 
and put it into his pocket, then tore out of the library with Dobby 
at his heels. 
“Dobby is supposed to be in the kitchens, sir!” Dobby squealed

---

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 
‘
492 
‘
as they burst into the corridor. “Dobby will be missed — good 
luck, Harry Potter, sir, good luck!” 
“See you later, Dobby!” Harry shouted, and he sprinted along 
the corridor and down the stairs, three at a time. 
The entrance hall contained a few last-minute stragglers, all 
leaving the Great Hall after breakfast and heading through the 
double oak doors to watch the second task. They stared as Harry 
flashed past, sending Colin and Dennis Creevey flying as he leapt 
down the stone steps and out onto the bright, chilly grounds. 
As he pounded down the lawn he saw that the seats that had en-
circled the dragons’ enclosure in November were now ranged along 
the opposite bank, rising in stands that were packed to the bursting 
point and reflected in the lake below. The excited babble of the 
crowd echoed strangely across the water as Harry ran flat-out 
around the other side of the lake toward the judges, who were sit-
ting at another gold-draped table at the water’s edge. Cedric, Fleur, 
and Krum were beside the judges’ table, watching Harry sprint to-
ward them. 
“I’m . . . here . . .” Harry panted, skidding to a halt in the mud 
and accidentally splattering Fleur’s robes. 
“Where have you been?” said a bossy, disapproving voice. “The 
task’s about to start!” 
Harry looked around. Percy Weasley was sitting at the judges’ 
table — Mr. Crouch had failed to turn up again. 
“Now, now, Percy!” said Ludo Bagman, who was looking in-
tensely relieved to see Harry. “Let him catch his breath!” 
Dumbledore smiled at Harry, but Karkaroff and Madame 
Maxime didn’t look at all pleased to see him. . . . It was obvious

---

THE SECOND TASK 
‘
493 
‘
from the looks on their faces that they had thought he wasn’t going 
to turn up. 
Harry bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath; he had 
a stitch in his side that felt as though he had a knife between his 
ribs, but there was no time to get rid of it; Ludo Bagman was now 
moving among the champions, spacing them along the bank at in-
tervals of ten feet. Harry was on the very end of the line, next to 
Krum, who was wearing swimming trunks and was holding his 
wand ready. 
“All right, Harry?” Bagman whispered as he moved Harry a few 
feet farther away from Krum. “Know what you’re going to do?” 
“Yeah,” Harry panted, massaging his ribs. 
Bagman gave Harry’s shoulder a quick squeeze and returned to 
the judges’ table; he pointed his wand at his throat as he had done 
at the World Cup, said, “
Sonorus
!” and his voice boomed out across 
the dark water toward the stands. 
“Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which 
will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover 
what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. 
One . . . two . . . 
three
!” 
The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air; the stands 
erupted with cheers and applause; without looking to see what the 
other champions were doing, Harry pulled off his shoes and socks, 
pulled the handful of gillyweed out of his pocket, stuffed it into his 
mouth, and waded out into the lake. 
It was so cold he felt the skin on his legs searing as though this 
were fire, not icy water. His sodden robes weighed him down as he 
walked in deeper; now the water was over his knees, and his rapidly

---

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 
‘
494 
‘
numbing feet were slipping over silt and flat, slimy stones. He was 
chewing the gillyweed as hard and fast as he could; it felt unpleas-
antly slimy and rubbery, like octopus tentacles. Waist-deep in the 
freezing water he stopped, swallowed, and waited for something to 
happen. 
He could hear laughter in the crowd and knew he must look stu-
pid, walking into the lake without showing any sign of magical 
power. The part of him that was still dry was covered in goose pim-
ples; half immersed in the icy water, a cruel breeze lifting his hair, 
Harry started to shiver violently. He avoided looking at the stands; 
the laughter was becoming louder, and there were catcalls and jeer-
ing from the Slytherins. . . . 
Then, quite suddenly, Harry felt as though an invisible pillow 
had been pressed over his mouth and nose. He tried to draw 
breath, but it made his head spin; his lungs were empty, and he 
suddenly felt a piercing pain on either side of his neck — 
Harry clapped his hands around his throat and felt two large slits 
just below his ears, flapping in the cold air.